Activated coke



Feb. 29, 1944. c. E. HEMMINGER l CTIVATED GOKE Filed May 29, 1940 w MH;

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IRMQSOIN NQ ff mensa Feb. 29, 1944 AOTIVATED COKE Charles E. llemminger, Westfield, N. J., assignor to Standard Oil Development Company, a corporation of Delaware Alllillatioll May 29, 1940, Serial No.` 337,769 1 Claim. (Cl. 252-293) The present invention relates to improvements in producing an activated 4solid carbonaceous material, and in a specific modification refers -to the method of producing carbon or coke from petroleum oil in such a physical form that it is especially adapted for use as an adsorbent in the clarification or decolorization of mineral oils such as lubricating oils and/or glyceride oils as cottonseed oil. y

It is one object of the present. invention to adapt a process for making an activated carbon which carbon may be used to contact and remove from mineral or glyceride oil, undesired colorforming bodies or other components to produce arelned oil. i

A second and perhaps more important object of the invention is to prepare an activated carbon from petroleum oil in a process known -to the petroleum industry as coking" and thereafter to activate said coke by combustion of volatile and/or liquid components which may be contained in or associated with the freshly produced coke to form a product of relatively high porosity and adsorptive capacity.

Other and further objects of the present'inven' tionwill appear from the ensuing detailed descriptions and claims, in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

The present invention will be best understood by means of a concrete example vsetting forth the manner in which the invention may be carried into effect.

In the accompanying drawing the figure shows diagrammatically and in partial vertical section, a combination of apparatus elements in which the invention may be performed.

Referring to the figure, a relatively viscous hydrocarbon Aoil such as an East Texas reduced crude having an'A. P. I. gravity within the range of from 12 to 18 is discharged into line l. after having been previously heated in a furnace (not shown) to a temperature of about 950 F., and

at this temperature it is forced into cyclone sepl arator 2 where a primary separation of oil vapors is effected, the oil vapors being withdrawn through line 3 and processed according to some known manner not involved in the present invention. The unvaporized oil is then subjected .to cracking conditions in a coking drum 4. The

coking operation may be carried out in the presence or absence of steam under known conditions to yield the desired products, i. e., gas oil, gasolineand coke. The vapor fractions are withdrawn from the upper portion of the drum through line 3 and processed according to some Such Y known procedure to recover gas oil, be used .as a cracking stock, gasoline, heating oil, and.v the like. The coke formed during the process,

on the other hand, collects at the bottomfof the drum and one portion of it may be withdrawn from the present system through star feeder 5.

The remainder of the coke is ground by crushing rollers or some similar device 5-a, discharged from drum through star feeder 6 into a receiver i 'l 1n which is disposed an inclined vibrating or reciprocating screen 8, motivated by means of an electrical motor, or the like 9. Finesk which are y present in the 'coke pass through fthe screen and.y are withdrawn from receiverL 1 through star..

feeder I4. 'Ihe remainder of the coke passes across screen 8 and is charged into star feeder' I5 from whence it passes into a chamber or chest i6 where it is admixed with and suspended inkv a gasiform material such as steam admitted to said chest through valved line I1. The entrain- A ment or dispersion of coke in steam or the like" is transferred through line i8 to a cyclone'sepal rator 24 disposed, as shown, on a tower 25. The coke is separated from the steam in the cyclone,"

separator and is then discharged throughlin'e 26. The coke, on the other handfis discharged into vessel 25 and from there is fed through star feeder 21 into the upper portion ofl a burner 'or' activator 30 through a conduit 29. 'The activator 30 may be of the general form and ystructure ofV a tubular boiler having tube sheets v32y and 35 and a plurality of tubes 33 'extending through f said sheets and opening into the spaces 34 and Y 36. In order to assist in the distribution of the coke discharged through conduit'29, truncated cone 31 which is perforated or foraminous in its upper flat surface may be disposed within the ared portion of conduit 29 as shown.

The'coke passes by gravity through tubes 33, while in the spaces around the tubes cold air or a burning fuel gas is passed to heat or cool the coke as will presently appear. Cold air from line 50 is discharged into the lower section indi-v cated by reference character C. The air is preheated by heat exchange with the coke in tubes 33 to a temperature of say about 500 F., and at this temperature is withdrawn through line 5|. A fuel such as oil refinery gas (i. e., normally gaseous hydrocarbons) is injected into line f partedtothe cokeinthe tubescausing the liberation of volatile components in the section indicated by reference character B. The fuel gas isv withdrawn from section B through line Il perature is from 1000 F. to 1200 F. Thesev temperatures will depend on the treatment of the coke desired and its subsequent use. In some cases the temperature in zone B may reach 1200 F., and in zone C, 1500 F. 'I'hese temperatures refer to the coke which is within the tubes, and the net eifect of the total treatment of the coke in the activator is to drive off the volatile com- DOnents from the coke and cause combustion of less volatile material to convert the original coke into an absorbent material. The coke which is at a temperature of 1000 F. to 1200 F. in zone C, may be cooled by atmospheric air or steam admitted tothe lower portion of the activator III through line B0. The gases formed or derived from the coke in the tubes are withdrawn through line I9. The activated and cooled coke is withdrawn from the activator through a star feeder 6I in line 59 into a receiver 62 from which it may be withdrawn as desired. The steam and/or air introduced through line 60 is an important part of the activation of the coke in that by burning and chemical reaction, part of the carbon is burned so that the resulting coke structure has a porous and adsorptive structure. For the most adsorptive form, -as much as 65% of the carbon is consumed by the air and steam, while the preferred operation of the process described, about 25% of the coke is consumed in an atmosphere where steam/ air ratio of about 2 volumesA into a highly porous and adsorbent material which nnds use in decolorismg and clarifying both mineral and glyceride oils. The activated carbon removed from chamber l2 may also be employed in the coking operation by which the original coke is formed. While the useof an adsorptive carbon to assist in the formation of coke from mineral oil residua is not a part of this invention, the activated carbon formed by the described process is a specially desirable adsorptive material to be used in the coking operation, in which case a portion of the carbon would be recycled through the heating coil, the cyclone separator, the coking chamber, and the activator. The process is characterized by the fact that it may be operated continuously and, further, by the fact that during the activation by the coke a close temperature control may be effected according to the process and means hereinbefore set forth.

It is my intention not to limit the present invention to the precise details enumerated above but to include in the attached claim all patentable subject matter falling within the spirit of my invention.

The invention claimed is:

A continuous method for making an activated carbon material from a petroleum coke which comprises conveying the hot coke directly from the point of its manufacture and without substantial cooling to treating zones, passing the coke downwardly in confined separated streams surrounded by gas spaces, through said zones, the said zones consisting of distilllng, carbonizing and activating zones. the disposition of the aforesaid zones being contiguous and such that the distilling zone is uppermost, the carbonizing zone is next below, and the activating zone is at the bottom, introducing gas containing air into the lower portion of the coke streams at the bottom of the activation zone for upward passage countercurrent -to the said coke, introducing into said gas spaces at the bottom of the activating zone. air for indirect cooling of the coke undergoing activation in the activating zone. mixing the resulting heated air with fuel and burning the fuel in the gas spaces surrounding the carbonizing zone to supply heat indirectly to the coke undergoing carbonizing in the carbonizing zone, and causing the` hot combustion gases resulting therefrom to pass through the gas spaces surrounding the distilling zone to indirectly heat the coke undergoing distillation.

CHARLES E. HEMmNGER.. 

